to wilt in bitterness
by dofu
Summary: o n e s h o t : today Masaharu decided to buy a bouquet assorted from her favorite flowers. — NiouSaku


_today Masaharu decided to buy a bouquet assorted from her favorite flowers._

**to wilt in bitterness**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Masaharu skipped afternoon practice today and stayed on the rooftop of the school. Usually students are not supposed to be up here but the notorious Trickster has spare keys to most places around the school for his own convenience. He cackles because he knows his cheeks will be sore come tomorrow but he don't care. The chilly autumn wind swept against him and he shivers while thinking it would be warmer if someone else was up here with him.

"Huh."

Masaharu throws his head back, staring up at the cloudy cluttered gray sky. Rarely does he let his hair down; it's also a rarity for him to lose things like his hair-tie.

The weather isn't nice today. He's almost glad that he bailed practice. Fuku-buchou is most likely furious; so he's torturing the club members as we speak, Masaharu hums at the amused thoughts running through his mind. He pulls away from his trail of thought when he heard a 'clack' from the entrance.

His icy-blue eyes darts to the door. Even if he forgot to lock it, why would anyone bother to come up on the roof in the first place?

A girl peeks outside and looks around, seemingly oblivious to the Trickster's presence.

Masaharu has the habit to observe first and ask questions later. She's not wearing his school's uniform; hence she's not a student of Rikkai. The teen tries to wrap his mind around why the hell a student from another school is here. Doesn't she know she sticks out like a sore thumb?

"Oi." He finally calls out.

"Ah!"

She sounded surprised - then she apologized for some reason.

"H-Hello, u…um I think I'm a little l-lost…" The girl stammers and fidgets.

Masaharu took her as a shy one just by sparring her one glance and he was right. Her stuttering is a dead giveaway of her true colours.

He slowly rises to his feet. "A little? You're either you're lost or not at all, musume-chan."

She looked dumbstruck. "Oh…Y-You're right…" The girl hides behind the door, her head poking out as she shyly glances back at the older teenager than to the pavement and back again. Masaharu smirked coyly. He could have a field day with a chick like this if he wanted to. "Yeah. So where were you heading musume-chan?"

"The t-tennis courts…"

Masaharu staggered, shocked. How in the world can anyone get lost going to the roof when their destination is ON THE DAMN GROUND. The corner of his lip twitches and he regains his composure in a flash of a second.

"Why are you on the roof when the courts are on floor level?" He needed to know. Either this ditz is stupid or she absolutely has no sense in directions.

She avoided eye contact with him. "U…Um I followed my instincts." Okay. So she's both, Masaharu decided.

Masaharu rolled his eyes and motions her over with his hand. "You can see the tennis courts from here," He said, pointing out at the said courts below the school rooftop. The girl, who is now standing a relatively safe distance away from him, looked onward to the tennis courts.

"O-Okay, I think I can…-"She gives him a sideway glance. "-go on my own now."

He met her glance which caused her to avert her eyes IMMEDIATELY.

Masaharu casually plays with his long strains of hair.

"Do whatever you want. Just give me something in exchange since I was nice enough to show you where you needed to go."

It's not uncommon for him to take advantage of a shy girl like her.

The girl, puzzled, furrow her brows. "What would you want…?" She doesn't have anything valuable with her.

The older teen holds his hand out expectantly.

"Hair-tie."

After he received the hand-me-down hair-tie straight from her pony-tail, the girl went off on her own to find the tennis courts on the ground floor. Masaharu stares up at the sky again then sneezes and rubs his nose.

"Cold."

**.**

It really is a lot warmer with two people up here.

Hiroshi gave him a cold bottle to nurse his sore cheeks on. He casts a worried look at his friend which was hidden behind his spectacles.

"Damn, fuku-buchou is as brutal as ever," Masaharu grunted.

"You shouldn't have skipped, Niou-kun. What does that say about your devotion to tennis?"

"Whatever Hiro."

The bratling, Akaya and the big ball of fat, Bunta didn't give him a second glance after the beating. They were busy chatting up about a cute girl they saw talking to buchou yesterday. Masaharu has no interest in such conversation but he listened in anyway – well up until they began to sound creepy by saying she smelt nice and stuff like that. _Gag_. Those two are hopeless idiots. He wouldn't be surprised if they started to talk about how many beautiful children they'd have with her.

Hiroshi seemed to have noticed his doubles partner's attentiveness to the conversation between Akaya and Bunta. "Oh, you weren't here yesterday so you didn't see her, did you Niou-kun? The girl, Ryuzaki-san came in the stead of Seigaku's coach in request of a practice match with our school." Hiroshi adjusted his glasses. "She's the granddaughter of the coach."

Masaharu quirks a brow. "Oh yeah?" This explains why someone from another school came here. "Since I missed out, fill me in to why Bunta and Akaya are so infatuated by her?"

Hiroshi pushes his glasses up.

"Ryuzaki-san promised to bake them cake filled with love."

"…Pfft…"

Masaharu could just imagine that. Akaya generally falls in love with anyone who is genuinely nice to him, and Bunta…is self-explanatory.

"It's funny Niou-kun?"

"Yee-ah! I mean I bet their anticipating the day they'd meet this Ryuzaki again and reenact what they'd say to her. Tch, losers."

He looks to the side and tugs on his pony-tail.

"Hey! We can hear you Niou-sempai!" The bratling growls.

"You're not exactly subtle, Niou," Bunta said, blowing a (angry) bubble.

The silver haired teen ignores him and he absentmindedly stares up at nowhere in particular. His icy-blue eyes find the school building and subconsciously his eyes trail up to the top of the school, the rooftop. One of his hiding places whenever he skips out on practice. His eyes narrow when he sees something on the roof. It's too far away to get a clear vision but he can tell it's a person; that much he could tell for certain. The bottle is becoming lukewarm against his cheek so he let his arm drop to the side.

"I'll be right back. If fuku-buchou asks, cover for me Hiro."

Before Hiroshi could protest, he had already gone on his own to the school building.

Masaharu pushes open the steel entrance of the rooftop. His eyes scan the whole area and he catches that girl, Ryuzaki - the one from yesterday. Her fingers are twined into the metal fence near the edge of the roof, staring down at what he assumes is the tennis courts.

He leans against the doorframe, crossing his arms as he watches the younger girl, once again unaware of his presence. It is like her instincts are blind or something like that.

He stays there, pondering how long it would take her to notice him.

Five minutes sped by.

Ten minutes.

Seventeen.

Masaharu's patience is wearing thin.

This girl is so much worse than that of the common ditz.

"Oh!"

It finally dawned to this Ryuzaki chick that he's been here waiting for her. How much slower can this girl get?

"Hey musume," Masaharu mutters. He hid the annoyance from his tone. Why did he wait up nearly twenty minutes for this girl anyways? She isn't anything special. She's just a plain, ordinary, slow-in-the-head ditzy girl. Ugh… it only annoys him more after he pointed these things out. He doesn't know why…which makes him even more irked. Masaharu hates not knowing things, especially when it's about himself that he's confused over.

She smiles shyly. "I-I was waiting for you."

Huh? What?

Masaharu's brows creased. "That so?" Why the hell did he wait seventeen minutes then?

"To give you these." She holds her hand out and opens her palm. Hair-ties. An assortment of them in every colour. It's a nice gesture, he suppose but why? Why did she come back here just to give him hair-ties? He has a feeling his questions won't be answered so he thanks her instead. "Thanks, Ryuzaki." Apparently, he knowing her name surprised her. They introduced themselves to one another and when he felt it was a good time to ask, he question why she didn't respond to him standing in the front door for the last twenty minutes. His questioning adds onto her surprised suspense.

"I-I…didn't know you were there Niou-san…I was watching a match on the courts."

Masaharu could almost laugh. 'Cept he didn't.

**.**

Ryuzaki Sakuno somehow managed to worm her way into his life. She just kept coming back to his school when he knows it's a huge hassle going from Seishun to Rikkai almost every day. Bunta and Akaya went out of their way to talk with her every chance they got but fortunately those idiots don't know about his and her secret spot on the rooftop. Eventually she even stopped stuttering around him . He feels a bit smug now that he's gotten her to become more comfortable around him.

Sometimes, Masaharu would help Sakuno with her homework on their 'special secret spot'.

She's not the brightest fish in the sea but there's this certain charm about her that no one else had.

"Masaharu-kun…"

He never noticed how sweet her voice sounded before. He doesn't pay attention to that sort of thing… (So what made it any different now?)

Those honey-brown doe-y eyes stare at him.

"Ahh I didn't notice it getting this late (because I was having too much of a good time)," He said and lifts himself up. He holds a hand out to Sakuno's to help her up. She gingerly takes his hand and rises after him. "Un. I should go to the station now."

"It's late. I'll walk you there Ryuzaki."

She accepts his offer and smiles happily, thanking him. He doesn't return the smile; he's too busy mulling over that tug on his heart just now. Masaharu is not a fool. He doesn't overlook the slightest hints of change in his relationships. He already knows that it is possible that he could…_like_ Ryuzaki. He gags over Bunta and Akaya's advances towards Sakuno before but now he just dreads it. He likes to keep the younger girl to himself whenever she comes to visit. This adds more depth to his suspicions of his fondness towards Ryuzaki.

They walked pass many shops on the way to the Kanegawa train station. Sakuno stops in front of a particular one – a flower shop.

Masaharu cocks his head. He didn't know his probably-maybe-love-interest likes flowers. But then again, she's the typical girl-y girl, he muses.

"Want one?" The Trickster asks behind her. He watches her look at countless flowers in front of the shop.

"Ah, I…I um… Masaharu-kun doesn't have to get me one…" Sakuno laughs sheepishly. "They're just really pretty… A-And I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea…"

Wrong idea…?

A frown made its way up to his face. "And what idea is that?"

"Eh?" Her eyes dart to his direction and they widen. "Umm… well…"

"So you don't like that idea, Ryuzaki?"

"Eh?! Well…" Her sentence trails off nervously.

He's getting angry. It doesn't take a genius to tell that she's just isn't into him!

"No, I get it Ryuzaki…" Masaharu's tone resembles a frustrated hiss. He doesn't spare her the time to explain. The angry teen brushes pass the younger troubled girl, walking quickly across the street. His mind is racing in rage and frustration. He hadn't taken notice of the flashing of the street crossing sign as it turns red. Masaharu's clouded anger was rudely pulled away as he hears the honk of a bus _dangerously_ close by. He felt his whole body froze in the middle of the rode. Before he could react – look – see – he felt a heavy blow behind him that lodged him forward, out of danger – the last thing he heard was stomach curdling scream that ended his world and left him in a terror of his worse nightmares.

Stop.

Time stopped for a mere second.

Sakuno is lying on the road, soaked in her very own blood.

Masaharu doesn't think twice but to hold the girl that saved his life in his arms. Panic and tears worked their way up in a jolt.

"Sa-Sakuno!"

She's in pain. So much _pain_…

Her eyes, half-lidded, stare up at Masaharu and she chokes out sobs. "I-I was scared…"

"D-Don't speak dumb girl!"

Masaharu doesn't hear the panic of the passerby's around them. No one else was here. It was just him and her.

Sakuno smiled weakly. "L…Listen… I…was s-scared to tell you how I f-felt…" It hurts her to speak, he knows this but she wants him to listen.

"S-Sakuno…"

"I-I…love you Masaharu…hehe…I'm sorry…to have to t-tell you like this…"

Masaharu has not cried for years and yet now tears come out so naturally to him.

"I love you, too…!" He chokes out, quivering and trembling. It's his fault…this is his entire fault… He can't do anything to help the one girl he loves. He's helpless.

Sakuno sobs and whispers something barely audible before gently closing her eyes. She was sobbing because she wondered if he thought **she** blamed him. He could only craddle her lifeless body until he heard sirens of the ambulance in the distance.

**.**

Today Masaharu decided bought a bouquet assorted from Sakuno's favorite flowers.

He set the flowers down on her gravestone and spent the afternoon with her until evening.

_Here lies Ryuzaki Sakuno_

_Beloved daughter_

_Granddaughter_

_And_

_**Hero**_

NOTE:  
**d**edicated to Katarin Kishika  
because the other challenge request I did for her was lame.  
there may be a AU chapter where Sakuno servives FYI  
because i'm not a angst writer :'(

akaya and bunbun are gonna be devastated if i didn't write the AU lol.

hope you enjoyed & review, please?


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